ISM Midterm Study Guide
Which of the following statements about the processing subsystem in a computer is true?
A given computer might have one or more Central Processing Units (CPUs).
Which of the following statements about passwords is correct?
A good password is not identical to a previous password you have used.
Which of the following is an example of an information system that is NOT a computer-based information system (CBIS)?
A paper calendar hanging on the wall outside of a conference room that is used to schedule the room's use
Which of the following statements about managing business processes and information systems is correct?
AllRoad managers need to understand business processes not just to evaluate the 3D printing opportunity, but because such processes are key to every business' success.
Which of the following statements about AllRoad's use of cloud services is NOT correct?
AllRoad would not need to use cloud services because it has ample internal resources such as server farms.
Which of the following present a complete set of data characteristics that are necessary for quality information?
Accurate, timely, relevant, economical (worth its cost), and just barely sufficient
Which of the following statements is incorrect?
All information systems support businesses.
Which of the following statements about AllRoad's use of cloud services is MOST accurate?
AllRoad is far more likely to take advantage of cloud services provided by cloud vendors than to develop its own internal server infrastructure because it is a small organization with a very small IT Department.
Which of the following statements regarding AllRoad's analysis of competitive forces is correct?
AllRoad judges the threat from substitutes as weak and the threat of new entrants as strong.
Which of the following statements regarding the future of cloud computing is NOT accurate?
Fewer organizations will be able to afford cloud computing because demand for those services will far outpace available supply, and costs will rise.
Which of the following incorrectly describes the generic value chain?
It is applicable only to manufacturing.
Which of the following is NOT a mobile client operating system?
Linux
An information system can be part of a product (product implementation), or it can provide support for a product or service (process implementation). Which of the following is NOT a product implementation?
Lock in suppliers
Which of the following is NOT one of the four general competitive strategies?
Longest value chain across the industry
Which of the following is NOT a factor to consider in analyzing industry structure as part of an organization's information systems planning process?
Lowest cost IT vendors
Which of the following statements about management information systems is inaccurate?
MIS involve solely the purchase and inventory management of IT in a business.
What does the acronym "MIS" stand for?
Management information systems
Which of the following statements about metadata is incorrect?
Metadata resides outside of the database itself, which is why it is referred to as meta-data.
Which of the following provides a valid example of an application and its associated software application type?
Microsoft Word is a horizontal market application software type.
Which of the following statements BEST describes NoSQL's impact on today's relational DBMS product market?
NoSQL DBMS products will continue to grow and proliferate to meet today's data management demands, but the traditional relational DBMS market is still alive and well and will continue to be important to business users for many years to come.
Which of the following statements BEST describes a NoSQL DBMS?
NoSQL is a generic term for a DBMS that does not rely on the relational model, but instead leverages advances in data storage and computer processing technologies to meet today's data management requirements such as nonstructured data objects (documents, multimedia, and so on) and very large data sets.
Although NoSQL will continue to grow, it will not replace traditional relational DBMSs in the majority of businesses anytime soon for all of the following reasons EXCEPT ________.
NoSQL is a new technology and is not as reliable and secure as traditional relational DBMS products
Windows Azure and SQL Azure are examples of which of the following cloud services?
PaaS
Which of the following is NOT an example of a remote action system?
Telecommunications
Which of the following is NOT one of the components of the framework of an information system?
The Internet
Porter's model of business activities includes linkages, which are interactions across value activities. Which of the following is NOT an example of linkage across value activities?
The addition of new potential customers to a manufacturing company's database in the sales and marketing function
How do companies use Porter's 5 forces model?
To help them determine the potential profitability of an industry and as a way of understanding their competitive environments
Which of the following statements about virtualization is correct?
With PC virtualization, a personal computer, such as a desktop or portable computer, hosts several different operating systems.
As an employee in a business organization, which of the following responsibilities would characterize your role in IS security?
You would be responsible for ensuring that the passwords you create are strong.
Which of the following incorrectly associates a major DBMS and its vendor?
YourSQL from Apple, Inc.
A private cloud is ________.
a cloud that is owned and operated by an organization for its own benefit
A database is ________.
a tool to keep track of things
Which of the following should be the first stage in a typical planning process used by many organizations to develop plans for their information systems?
industry structure
Introduction to MIS is the most important class in today's Business School programs because ________.
studying MIS will give you the background you need to assess, evaluate, and apply emerging information systems technology to business
Information is data that has been processed by any combination of the following operations EXCEPT ________.
truncation
Which of the following correctly states the five components of an information system?
Hardware, software, data, procedures, and people
Which of the following is the BEST definition for information?
Information is processed data presented in a meaningful context.
Which of the following statements is true regarding virtual private clouds (VPCs)?
A VPC is a subset of a public cloud that has highly restricted, secure access.
What is the difference between a database application and a database application program?
A database application includes forms, reports, queries, and database application programs.
Which of the following statements does NOT correctly describe a database?
A database can contain many tables, each of which contains data about a particular entity, but these tables are separate and distinct and cannot be related to one another.
Which of the following is the correct definition of a DBMS?
A database management system (DBMS) is a program used to create, process, and administer a database.
Which of the following is NOT one of the functions of a computer operating system?
Access and manage your database.
Which of the following statements about client and server computers is correct?
Although clients and servers can both use similar hardware (processors, memory chips, hard drives, and so on), servers generally have more capable hardware components than clients (faster processors, more memory, and so on) because a server provides services to many client machines.
Which of the following statements about process quality is true?
An effective business process is one that enables the organization to accomplish its strategy.
Which of the following is NOT an operating system for a nonmobile client computer?
Apple's iOS
Which of the following statements about client-server computing is correct?
A thick-client application is an application program that must be preinstalled on the client, whereas a thin-client application is one that runs within a browser and does not need to be preinstalled.
Porter's five competitive forces can be grouped into which of the following two types?
Bargaining power forces and competitive forces
Which of the following statements about a graph of data points is inaccurate?
Because the raw data have been graphed, they are now considered to be information.
Which of the following statements about operating systems (OS) for client and server computers is correct?
Both client and server computers require an OS.
Which of the following statements is correct regarding the relationship between business processes and value chains?
Business processes implement value chains or portions of value chains.
Which of the following statements about economy of scale as applied to cloud computing is NOT correct?
By consolidating into a web farm, the high cost of electric power to run many servers is reduced, and this is the sole source of an economy of scale for cloud computing.
Which of the following cloud services can AllRoad use to distribute its content worldwide and to respond to leads generated from advertising?
CDN
Which of the following correctly associates a device technology with the computer subsystem that uses it?
Cameras, including Webcams, are used in the input subsystem.
Which of the following correctly states the hierarchy of data elements within a database?
Characters are contained within fields, which are contained within records that are contained within tables.
Good passwords are NOT based on which of the following characteristics?
Contains only alphabetic and special characters but numbers are not allowed.
Which of the following is NOT one of functions of a DBMS?
Create a web home page for the database.
Which of the following statements about custom software development for application software acquisition is correct?
Custom development is generally difficult, risky, and expensive.
What must a company do if a value chain's margin is negative?
Either the value must be increased, or the costs of the value chain need to be reduced.
Which of the following is NOT one of the four elements of a database application?
DBMS
When writing a report on a desktop computer, the text sentences that you create are an example of which component of an information system?
Data
Which of the following statements is correct regarding the data characteristics necessary for quality information?
Data must be accurate and timely, and the data needs to be sufficient for the purpose for which it is generated, but just barely so. This is the correct answer.E. Data must be relevant to the subject but not the context, and it must be timely and accurate.
Which of the following incorrectly describes the BPMN standard?
Data repositories are shown in rectangles.
Which of the following statements about the hierarchy of data elements within a database is correct?
Database tables contain records, also known as "rows."
What is the purpose of a database?
Databases help people keep track of things.
Which of the following statements BEST describes what AllRoad needs to do if it adopts 3D printing for some of its own parts?
Develop new business processes and possibly information systems to support that activity.
Which of the following statements about business processes is incorrect?
Each activity is a collection of data.
Consider two companies that have the same set of value chain activities. Which of the following statements regarding business processes and information systems in these two companies is correct?
Each company will implement these value chain activities using business processes that are consistent with its respective competitive strategy.
Which of the following statements is correct regarding the relationship among value chains, business processes, and information systems?
Each value chain in a company is supported by one or more business processes.
An information system can be part of a product (product implementation) or it can provide support for a product or service (process implementation). Which of the following is NOT a process implementation?
Enhance products and services.
Consider a case where your organization wants to develop a Facebook page. Which of the following statements describing this case would be correct?
Facebook will provide the hardware and programs, the database structures, and the standard procedures for your company's Facebook page.
What does it mean when we say that data must be economical (worth its cost)?
For data to be worth its cost, an appropriate relationship must exist between the cost of data and its value.
Which of the following is NOT one of the major subsystems in a modern computer?
Graphics display
Which of the following incorrectly associates the component of an information system with its function in a business process?
Hardware bridges computers and people.
Which of the following is one of the categories of application programs?
Horizontal market
Which of the following statements is correct?
I can send you the data.
Which of the following statements about information systems (IS) is true?
IS can improve overall process quality, effectiveness, and efficiency.
Which of the following statements regarding information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) is FALSE?
IS drives the development of a new IT.
Which of the following is NOT one of the key elements in the definition of an MIS?
IT hardware and software
The MOST basic cloud offering that provides a bare server computer or data storage is known as ________.
IaaS
Which of the following is a correct statement regarding competitive forces in Porter's model?
If customers are loyal to the company or brand, then the strength of the competitive forces is low.
Which of the following correctly sequences the stages in a typical planning process used by many organizations to develop plans for their information systems?
Industry Structure dash- Competitive Strategy dash- Value Chains dash- Business Processes dash- Information Systems Your answer is correct.C.
Which of the following is NOT a marketable skill as defined by former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich?
Information Technologies
Which of the following statements about remote action systems is NOT accurate?
Remote action systems allow remote control of a computer but do not include robotic systems.
Which of the following is NOT part of the basic concept and definition of the cloud?
Resources owned and operated by a given company
Which of the following is NOT a valid activity of database administration performed by a DBMS?
Running a query to answer a question
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a service-oriented architecture (SOA)?
SOA are limited to local area networks.
A cloud vendor that provides not only hardware infrastructure, but also an operating system and application programs, is offering which type of service?
SaaS
A small organization like AllRoad would more likely use which of the following cloud services?
SaaS and PaaS
Which of the following statements about security requirements for browser-based applications is false?
Security requirements are more stringent for traditional applications than for browser-based ones.
Which of the following is NOT a typical question that a business professional needs to be able to answer?
Should we use SSL or TSL technology to secure our sensitive data exchanges over the Internet?
Which of the following statements about source code and machine code is accurate?
Source code is understandable by humans, but generally machine code is not.
Which of the following statements is NOT correct regarding the ways in which information systems (IS) can provide competitive advantages to a company?
Strategies and business processes can generate competitive advantages, but IS cannot.
Consider two companies that have different strategies but identical value chain activities related to their respective strategies. Which of the following statements is correct?
The business processes used in these two companies will be different.
Which of the following statements correctly associates data storage technologies with the volatility of the storage technology?
The cache and main memory are volatile, whereas magnetic and optical disks are nonvolatile.
Which of the following statements about the processing function of a DBMS is correct?
The four basic processing operations are reading, inserting, modifying, and deleting data.
Which of the following is NOT an example of an information system?
The hard drive inside your desktop computer
Consider the shipping company ABC, Inc., which has developed and implemented a web-based information system to handle customer interactions in scheduling a shipment. Which of the following statements correctly describes how this information system provides competitive advantages to ABC, Inc.?
The information system helps to differentiate the ABC package delivery product from competitors that do not have a similar system.
Which of the following statements is correct?
The information you conceive from data is the value that you add to the information system.
Which of the following statements about Moore's Law is correct?
The law states that the number of transistors per square inch on an integrated chip doubles every 18 months. This law implies that computer-processing power increases exponentially over time.
Which of the following statements is correct regarding the emergence of NoSQL DBMSs?
The relational model was never a natural fit with business documents.
Which of the following is NOT a valid characteristic of support activities in the generic value chain?
They are business functions that relate directly to the production of the organization's products or services.
Which of the following statements about the capabilities of future business professionals is NOT correct?
They will need to be able to write up-to-date software for business requirements.
Which of the following is NOT one of the factors that Porter cites that must be consistent with an organization's strategy if that organization is to be effective?
The organization's information systems
Which of the following statements about private clouds is inaccurate?
Thousands of highly trained, very highly skilled personnel are required to create, manage, administer, and improve a private cloud.
Which of the following is NOT a valid use of Porter's competitive forces model?
To determine the year that the industry will become obsolete
Which of the following statements about future jobs and working characteristics is NOT accurate?
Unemployment will sky rocket because only the very best in each career field will be employed, and they will do all of the work in that field using remote action systems.
Which of the following statements about virtual private networks (VPNs) is NOT accurate?
VPNs provide secure communications over the Internet, but they are so complex and expensive that only the military and government organizations can use them.
Which of the following is NOT one of the ways that organizations use the cloud?
WaaS
Which of the following is NOT one of the SaaS services that AllRoad can utilize?
azure
With respect to a VPN, a tunnel is ________.
a virtual, private pathway over a public or shared network from the VPN client to the VPN server
Multi-user processing ________.
can cause possible data conflicts; if you are the manager for business activities that involve multiuser processing, you should be aware of these potential problems
Firmware is ________.
computer software that is installed into devices such as printers, print servers, and various types of communication devices, and that is installed into special, read-only memory of the printer or other device, becoming part of the device's memory
To have an informed and effective discussion in evaluating the 3D printing opportunity, the managers should ________.
create an abstraction or model of AllRoad's current processes
For any new information system, business professionals will need to manage all of the following EXCEPT ________.
debugging the software code
Information systems can provide competitive advantages to a company by all of the following ways EXCEPT ________.
establishing low switching costs for customers
The term "management" in "management information systems" means all of the following EXCEPT ________.
evaluation of IT personnel
To those in the MIS field, Porter's requirements for an organization to be effective means that all information systems in the organization must ________.
facilitate the organization's competitive strategy
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of future cloud-based information systems?
free
Value chains exist in service-oriented companies. The difference between a value chain in a manufacturing company and one in a service company is that most of the value in a service company is generated by all of the following EXCEPT ________.
inbound and outbound logistics
With regard to business processes, information systems can ________.
increase process effectiveness and increase process efficiency
Which of the following should be the final stage in a typical planning process used by many organizations to develop plans for their information systems?
information systems
Which of the following is NOT a primary activity in a value chain?
inventory management
Business process modeling notation (BPMN) ________.
is an international standard for creating business process diagrams
A professor wants to track his students' grades, contacts, email messages, and office visits. What database application should he use?
microsoft access
Which of the following is NOT an example of open source software?
microsoft power point
Which of the following data characteristics is NOT necessary for quality information?
precision
The two dimensions that can be used to measure process quality are ________.
process effectiveness and process efficiency
Process diagrams ________.
provide a means to communicate with others about process structure and possible changes
Porter's competitive strategy that is industry-wide and achieves differentiation for the company is to ________.
provide better products and services across the industry
When data are said to be timely, that means that ________.
the data are available in time for their intended use
Negative aspects of cloud computing include all of the following EXCEPT _______
the inability to obtain all of the computing power that is needed at a given time
The term "open source" means that ________.
the source code of the program is available to the public
Open source software is a viable alternative because ________.
there are no licensing fees
Programmers volunteer their services to work on open source software projects because ________.
they can exercise their creativity while working on projects they find interesting and fulfilling
Companies can use web services internally ________.
to build internal information systems that use the same standards as cloud-based web services
To maintain a strategy that is competitive, AllRoad must ________.
understand 3D printing technology and be prepared to address changes in the competitive forces of customer bargaining power and competitive threats as it relates to this technology area
Key parts of every business professional's skillset should include all of the following EXCEPT an ability to ________.
understand statistical process control for manufacturing operations
Today's modern database applications ________.
use new technologies that employ browsers, the web, and related standards
The term "information technology" refers to all of the following EXCEPT ________.
users
Which of the following is NOT a component of a database?
web interfaces
Which of the following is NOT a member of the NoSQL family?
webDB
The terms "information system" (IS) and "information technology" (IT) are related but different, because ________.
you can buy IT but not IS
Why is "Introduction to MIS" the most important class in the Business School?
"Introduction to MIS" can give you the ultimate in job securitylong dash—marketable skillslong dash—by helping you learn abstraction, systems thinking, collaboration, and experimentation.
Which of the following is an example of a strong password?
3B47qq5!7b
Which of the following is NOT an example of a strong password?
3^7wr
In the 2 x 2 matrix depicting Porter's four competitive strategies, which of the following correctly identifies the two horizontal axis and the two vertical axis labels?
Cost, differentiation, industry-wide, and focus
The cloud might not make sense for a business for all of the following reasons EXCEPT ________.
cloud-based hosting always makes sense for all businesses